Interrogations
by sparkycola1
Summary: Danny is accused of taking Louie off life support in order to kill him.


Title: Interrogation

Author: SparkyCola

Summary: **Danny is accused of taking Louie off life support in order to kill him**. Pure Danny angst, in other words...

Rating: PG-13 for language

Spoilers- Tanglewood, Run Silent Run Deep, I think it's called 'What you see is what you see' ? (The big Aiden ep), the season finale (The big Flack ep), I think that's it.

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The Investigator sat down and gave Danny a stare that made Lindsay shudder from behind the two-way glass. 

"Daniel Messer, my name is Ben Oakley. I want you to know that my aim is to conduct this investigation as fairly as possible, I'm not gonna hang you out to dry if you didn't do it, neither am I going to protect you cos you're one of us if you did. You understand?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Danny replied forcefully.

Mac hoped Danny would keep his evident anger in check for the interview. While Stella and Sheldon investigated to clear Danny's name, Mac and Detective Anna Crawley, Oakley's partner, had met to discuss Danny's possible involvement, and now watched Danny behind the glass. Mac liked the objective view the two had taken- so many of them DID just want someone to hang out to dry, and fast. He glanced over at Lindsay. It was good of her to come in on her day off to help with the investigation and give Danny some support. God knew he would need it. Anna leaned in to Mac, speaking quietly,

"Ben will probably keep pushing Danny's buttons until he finds one that goes deep and follows it through. Then he'll go down another line of attack, keep on and on pushing, Danny just has to stay calm and not rise to the bait."

This worried Mac.

Inside the interrogation room the tension was growing thicker by the second.

"How close were you to your brother?"

"We were close when we were younger, but we drifted apart. Went our separate ways."

"Separate ways", Oakley echoed, "As in you went into enforcing the law, Louie went into breaking it?"

"Louie made some mistakes but he was still my brother."

"But you weren't particularly close. Tell me, did you feel ashamed of your brother?"

Danny stared a hole into the table.

"I was for a while"

"What changed your mind?"

"When he risked his life just to clear my name."

"You mean the recent case in which you were accused of an old murder, and Louie got a taped confession from Sonny Sassone but got severely beaten up for his troubles. Is that what you mean?"

"Yeah that's what I mean."

"So really, Louie would not have been beaten so severely if he weren't protecting…you."

Danny sighed and stared at a wall off to his left. His expression betrayed that he had been haunted by that same sense of guilt. Outside Mac turned abruptly to Crawley. "Is that really necessary?"

Anna shrugged. "Whatever line takes us to the truth Ben will take. I told you this wasn't going to be easy on him." though the words sounded cold there was a hint of sympathy which Mac picked up on and he turned back to the room, having missed Danny's response to the question.

"You say you weren't ashamed of your brother. Yet- isn't it true that the reason he had to clear your name in the first place, is because HE invited you to go with them to Atlantic City the night a man was murdered? Surely it was his fault you had a connection with Tanglewood at all?"

"Louie encouraged me to stay out of Tanglewood."

"Ah that's right", Oakley feigned a sudden remembrance, "Louie was by no means your only connection to Tanglewood was he?"

"I grew up in Tanglewood's part of town."

"Ah now Danny- that's not being entirely straight with me is it?"

Outside Mac tensed, but his curiosity was overwhelming. Did Danny lie to him about joining Tanglewood?

"When Detective Taylor first took you under his wing - your house was under police surveillance, was it not?"

Danny fidgeted slightly.

"Yes it was." Danny's voice sounded flat, Mac knew he was trying not to let the guy get to him.

"Why was that, exactly, do you think?"

"My dad and Louie were both members of Tanglewood."

"But not you? That's a little odd isn't it?"

"Like I said, I chose a different way."

Oakley looked unconvinced.

"What made you want to take that different way? Why didn't you follow in your father and brother's footsteps?

"A whole number of things, my mom, Louie, my sister Katie, my teachers at school, I thought I could make something better outta myself than that."

"So you feel superior in some way to your brother?"

"No, just that I had somethin more to be proud of."

The irritation was evident. Mac wished he could give Danny a sign that he was on his side.

"So you WERE ashamed of your brother. Perhaps when you saw him there, so vulnerable, you realised you had the opportunity to change your own reputation."

"No way! He was my brother. You think I'd kill him in return for protecting me? Savin my butt?"

Danny was visibly upset by now. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"He didn't always protect you though did he? I have your medical file with me, Danny- "

"That wasn't Louie."

"Please don't interrupt. As I was saying- I have your medical file with me, as well as those of your family. One can 'bump into a door' only so many times, can't they, Danny? Your record shows a certain consistency. Age 5, broken arm, internal bleeding, concussion, 5 stitches needed for the back of your head, age 6, 2 cracked ribs and more internal bleeding, 8, broken jaw, black eye, more bruising, a few months later dislocated shoulder, concussion…you can't seriously expect me to believe you were this accident prone, can you?"

Despite the hard stare, Danny said nothing. Behind the two way glass, Mac wore a dark expression. Oakley continued.

"Louie's is the same…until he reaches 14, and then it suddenly stops. Is that when he joined Tanglewood?"

On receiving no response, Oakley ploughed on, "What about Katie- when she's around 6, the abuse she gets decreases and yours increases. You protected her, didn't you? Why didn't Louie?"

"He was out a lot."

"'Out a lot'? Out too much to care about what happened to his younger brother and sister? Not to mention your mother."

"Louie did the best he could when he was around."

"You mean to tell me you are not the slightest bit resentful that you had to take the worst of your father's violence because Louie was 'out a lot'? He was the oldest, isn't it his job to protect you?"

"I don't blame Louie for what my dad did. Like I said, he did the best he could when he was around. So No, I don't hate him, got that?"

Oakley looked questioningly at Danny, and the young CSI realised his mistake in letting himself get angry.

Outside Lindsay gripped the rail and glanced at Mac. He had a stony expression which made her glad she wasn't Danny's father at that moment. Anna just observed with interest.

"Maybe you don't hate Louie -but you hate Tanglewood right? It must seem like whatever career you choose, Tanglewood tries to mess it up for you. You know what I'm talking about don't you Danny? You wanted to become a professional baseball player if I remember right- so why didn't you? You had the talent, what went wrong?

"I got into a fight and busted up my arm."

"That's …certainly one way of putting it." Oakley commented dryly. "Wouldn't it be more accurate to say The Tanglewood Boys busted up your arm?"

"You could say that."

"I just did, Danny. Why did they do that? You weren't even running with them- were you?"

"I already said I wasn't. They wanted me to lose a game deliberately - I won it, they lost all the money they bet against me, got pretty pissed off."

"And broke your arm in three places. Tough break. You must hate them for ruining your career like that."

"I'm happy enough with where I am now. Besides- killing Louie wouldn't get back at the Tanglewood boys- they wanted him dead anyway."

"How do you know that? Did they pay you to kill him?"

"I didn't fucking kill him! He's my fucking brother, and if you think I'd ever, do anything for the fucking Tanglewood boys you are severely mistaken."

Lindsay winced slightly.

"Maybe under normal circumstances that's true. But it's not like you couldn't do with the money, is it?"

"All the money in the world couldn't make me kill my own brother."

"You were recently taken off the promotion grid weren't you?"

Outside Mac feared another Minhas ordeal, but he soon realised that wasn't quite what Oakley was getting at.

"Yeah.", the guarded response.

"The wages you're on at the moment may be enough for the average Joe, maybe even enough to cover your sister's university fees as well- you still seem to be looking out for Katie Messer even now…"

"She's my little sister. I want her to do well."

"She's in England at the moment isn't she?"

"Yeah, Cambridge University."

Mac detected a hint of fond pride in Danny's voice, and wondered how many more revelations were to come about his young CSI.

"One of the top in the world- that's gotta sting whoever's paying the bills hasn't it? That would be you, wouldn't it?"

"My sister's real smart, I just want her to do the best she can is all."

"You seem very close to your sister. I'm guessing if it came down to a situation between her and Louie, you'd choose to put her interests first, am I right?"

"Not if it meant hurting Louie."

"mmhmm. Where was I…ah yes- we were talking about your financial state weren't we. There's another …shall we say…dent, in your pay cheque is there not? On the 15th of July 8 years ago, your father beat your mother so hard she ended up severely brain-damaged. Since then she has been in a carehome, whose bills, once again, YOU seem to have ended up paying. That must have made you pretty angry, I guess. When was the last time you went to see your mother?"

"Last week."

Mac could practically feel the pity radiating off Lindsay, and knew Danny would hate it, but he could understand how Lindsay felt.

"Last week, your brother was alive, but in a coma. I bet his prospects weren't looking so good. When you looked at your mother, did she even recognise you? Did she know where she was? Maybe there was a chair nearby that was empty, and you could just picture Louie there, would you have to pay for him too? I think it's quite likely, but that's not it is it? for the last 8 years you've been faithfully visiting your mother, who doesn't know you, never remembers you, can barely do a 4 piece jigsaw puzzle without help and you couldn't bear the thought of Louie ending up like that, could you?"

Mac could tell that this was the motive Ben Oakley really believed in, the others he had just toyed with, now he was going for the throat.

"Could you?"

"Of course I didn't want my brother to be a fucking vegetable but that doesn't mean I killed him!"

"Well, maybe it's hard to think straight in trying times. Out of, perhaps, the four people you care most about- Katie was across the Atlantic and practically unreachable, your best friend Aiden, dead, your other best friend heading that way and on top of all that Louie was about to turn into a vegetable. That's gotta put a strain on even the most emotionally stable of people, surely?"

Danny's voice become dangerously cold. "Flack is not 'heading that way', he's gonna make it, you understand that? Doctors say he's stabilising and that he's gonna be fine so don't you talk about him like he's already dead."

"You didn't answer my question. Louie wasn't 'stabilising' at all - in fact he was deteriorating. The longer he spent in a coma the more likely he would be to wake up with brain damage."

Danny's anger, barely concealed during the course of the interrogation, startled Oakley when Danny stood up suddenly, Mac tensed.

"There was a chance! There was a minute fucking chance that he would wake up and be ok, but it was a chance, and that's what I was clinging onto. I will say this one last fucking time, I did not. kill. my brother. Do you understand?"

The investigator seemed to study Danny closely, before finally nodding.

"I understand."

Now Mac felt Oakley finally believed Danny.

"That concludes our discussion. I'm sorry I upset you, if it's any consolation…I believe you."

With that, Oakley left the room. Crawley nodded thoughtfully, then joined Oakley and left. Mac made a decision.

"Lindsay, would you help Stella and Sheldon with their investigation- tell me if you have any breakthroughs?"

"Of course." Lindsay said, quietly. She hesitated only a moment before going to find the other two. Mac turned to see Danny storm out of the interrogation room and jogged to catch up with him.

"Danny! Danny wait up!"

Danny stopped and turned to glare at him. Mac could see the pain that Danny concealed with anger.

"What? You want more detail about my fucking life story?"

"…You never told me you had a sister."

It had the desired effect. Danny's anger dissipated steadily.

"Well now you know. And a lot more than I woulda liked you to know."

"I know, I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Danny sighed.

"Sorry I snapped at you just now."

"It's ok. How about we take a break and maybe grab a beer."

"Sure, whatever."

They walked in silence until they had exited the building.

"Got any leads as to who did it yet?"

"Stella's processing a hair she found at the scene, she thinks it will lead us to the killer."

Danny nodded.

"Mac…I don't want anything to change between us…ya know?"

"Danny, it makes a difference. Knowing more about a person always makes a difference."

Mac was surprised by how upset Danny looked to hear him say that.

"But not in a bad way- and not out of pity either."

Danny looked up uncertainly, and Mac knew he had said the right thing.

"I have a lot of respect for what you do for your sister and mother. Is that really why you wanted to get on the promotion grid?"

"Don't get me wrong Mac, I enjoy my work, ya know?"

"But still, you've been working a lot of over-time lately."

"Katie's in her last year. She had to quit one of her jobs so she could study hard for the final exams."

"Danny, what with Louie and Aiden and Flack - now this, I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier that you had a lot on your plate. I wanna make it up to you. That's why I've decided to let you in on a secret. No matter what's happened in the last few months- you never really lost my respect, I had faith in you. Don't blame yourself for what happened to Louie- it's not your fault."

"I wish I could believe that Mac. I really wish I could."

"It's true. Louie was trying to put right a wrong. Let him have that. He didn't do it so that you could blame yourself."

Danny didn't reply.

"You turned out good Danny, I'm proud of you."

Danny nodded, head down, and Mac could tell he was moved by the compliment.

"That means a lot Mac."

"Don't worry about it."

There was a comfortable silence between the two of them.

"How about that beer…?"

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The End. Sorry if you didn't think it was very conclusive lol. I just wanted to write down some ideas, and that was the quickest way I could think of doing it. Hope you liked it all the same. 


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